The "End of Show" funk

Most theatre people go through what I like to call "The end of the show funk". It hit me pretty hard this time. Going from spending 4 days a week with people you have gotten to know and love to barely seeing them would be hard for anyone. For me it wasn't only that but these talented and amazing people have helped me grow in not only theatre but in my everyday thoughts and actions.
 
When I was first cast in the show and saw the cast list I was a bit intimidated. I was the youngest and least experienced person in the cast, how was I supposed to go on stage with these talented people and not look like a total rookie? This role was my first role with lines of this magnitude and not only that but with a story of this degree. I was just plain scared.

 I know that some people might be thinking that it doesn't matter the experience, it’s about the story and giving it your all. I think in any situation when you have talented people around you well you feel inadequate, or at least I did. Those feelings soon went away after the first few weeks of rehearsal. I have never worked with a more encouraging cast and it was a blessing.

 This role has given me more confidence in my acting abilities and myself. A smart man told me that acting was about being confident in yourself and that you know what you are doing so just do it. Confidence is something I have always struggled with but this last 4 months have really helped me with that. It has been one of the best experiences in my life.

 Last but not least I want to thank all the cast for never treating me like I was the youngest. I want to thank Jud for telling me that if I am happy don't listen to what others have to say and for being an all-around outstanding guy. Daniel for being awesome and giving me rides and for the amazing advice that was given. Tony for being a mentor through the whole process even if he hadn't noticed it. A special thanks to RAT for having faith in me for the past 8 months and opening my eyes to new things. Lastly Shane for teaching me more about acting in the last 5 months then I have learned in the last 17 years, seriously thank you.

 In the end I am sad that the show is over but I have grown from the experience. I am never happier than when I am on stage telling a story so thanks to everyone who came and saw this phenomenal play because without you we’d have been a bunch of weirdos talking to each other as different characters.

Thank you,
Forever your Crooks, Taia Stevens

Trailer

Lennie's strength

Big Baby, dumb, kicked in the head by a horse. These are the words that stick out to me when people talk about Lennie. For me, personally, it is and was Big Baby, dumb, and ran into walls for fun. I’m not Lennie, I am Daniel but to think about what Lennie has gone through his whole life is not that difficult for me. I was always the biggest kid in my class I always stuck out even when I was just tall and not necessarily heavy. I became self-aware at a young age of how strong I was. I think I was fifteen the first time I broke something like a door handle or a bike pump just trying to use it like a regular person would. I was able to learn that not all of my strength was needed that I needed to be softer with everyone. I’m still not perfect. Sorry Tony Mannen’s rib 2014(Putnam Spelling Bee)

 For me Lennie lacks the capability to be self-aware of his strength and for that I am truly sorry for him. Lennie is bigger and stronger than everyone around him and he doesn't really understand that. For me a line that sticks out like a sore thumb is Slim’s line the night after Lennie goes out bucking barley. It’s something around the lines of… he nearly killed his partner bucking barley. Lennie is completely unaware of how everyone else around him isn't his size or strength it never even occurs to him that these people don’t think he is normal. What is normal though?

-Daniel Gardner

Curley's Wife

Confidence is something that I have struggled with. Playing someone who knows absolutely no bounds, and had no questions as to whether or not she can succeed, is challenging to me. I mean, some of her interactions with people are ones that I would only have if there was a substantial amount of liquor in me to mask my embarrassment. She is an extrovert to an extreme, whether she is played innocently or with more sexual intention. In many ways, I envy her for that. In preparing to go in stage, I chant to myself in my head "you have an OBSCENE amount of confidence! It oozes out of your skin and puddles in your heels! I mean, just look at you!" I think the thing that fascinates me most about her is her ability to talk to men so easily while still being so young. I think back to my interactions with men that I have found attractive and shudder. I can get dolled up. I can put on a face and a dress but when it comes time to actually talk, I know that all I can expect from myself is a goofy face, a laugh that is really too loud and obnoxious for any room, and a hope to God that he is "in" to that kind of stuff. She glides through her flirtatious conversations with men as easily as a greased pig slides down a slip-and-slide. She's perky, graceful, easy, while still being enthusiastic.

Tomorrow we open, and I have been thinking about her constantly. Her attitude toward life, toward reading, toward future, and marriage, and children. She haunts me when I put on makeup or have a negative thought about myself. While she'd be thinking something along the lines of, "I don't think anyone has looked this beautiful in their entire existence", I am thinking "well, this is absolutely as good as it's going to get... Damn". The more I learn about her, the more I like her. I know she is made out to be the antagonist in many ways, but I have grown to love this young girl. I believe she wasn't purposefully messing things up. She wanted out of that life just as much as those men did, and the only power that she has at all is her sexuality. She wasn't looking to pork every guy she met on the farm, she was looking for someone who would fall in love with her and take her away from Curly, his dad, and that goddamned ranch. 

In truth, she misses her mom. Arguments and all, she misses her mother and her hometown friends. She may not want to go home and stay there, but she misses the feeling of "home" and "safe". The ranch is not home. The ranch is not safe. I think that she thinks she will step into the movie business and start making more money than she'll know what to do with, and with that money, she can create her own home.

Her very own safe place.

-Meghan Burnham